Spatman's Manta Experience

[Sockmonkey]

No time for a real report... but this short video of Spatman waving is for Calvin who thinks mantas are stupid.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10486452[/vimeo]

[LCF]

I'm envious!

[Norris]

NICE!!!!

[Joshua Smith]

No time for a real report... but this short video of Spatman waving is for Calvin who thinks mantas are stupid.

?Inside joke? I've heard Calvin rave about this dive before?

[H20doctor]

Very sweet , love the Blue shimmer from the lights as they swim bye ... Epic

[Mongodives]

LCF, you have the coupon to go again don't you? They didn't give me one.

[LCF]

Yes, I think the coupon is good for a whole six months . . .

[Tangfish]

I don't think mantas are lame, I think they're delicious....

[scottsax]

Is this dive a boat dive or a shore dive? Can we make the reservation now for April 17th?

[Sockmonkey]

Is this dive a boat dive or a shore dive? Can we make the reservation now for April 17th?

I prefer to go on a Friday, Sunday or Monday because the main manta man works those nights.

But it's a boat dive typically. About $150 for divers. $95 for snorkelers.

I haven't done it yet but you can shore dive one of the spots when it is very very very calm.

In spite of the yelling at I got on scubabored... it really is the only reason to come and dive here... outside of importing a dive buddy for me of course.

-Eric

[scottsax]

In spite of the yelling at I got on scubabored... it really is the only reason to come and dive here... outside of importing a dive buddy for me of course.

-Eric

Naturally... What yelling at? I looked but couldn't find it...

2 1/2 weeks and counting!!! Looking forward to diving with you!

[deep diver]

dream dive

[Gdog]

It really is a great dive. I hate "canned" dives, and agreed to go on this for my dive buddy. It was really great! Dove with Jack's Dive Locker, with Keller Laros. Here is a pic I took:

[Alexitt]

It really is a great dive. I hate "canned" dives, and agreed to go on this for my dive buddy. It was really great! Dove with Jack's Dive Locker, with Keller Laros. Here is a pic I took:

Mantas.jpg

Nice shot!!!! I did my Discover Scuba dive with Jacks for my 50th B-day and heard great things about their Manta dive!!

[Tangfish]

That's an amazing photo, Gdog!

[Gdog]

Thanks all. It represents about 30 shots to get the one, fighting the rolling surge, holding on to a large bolder for dear life, but it was worth it!!!!!

[spatman]

i have a lot of video from that dive i need to edit. i hope to have something for you to check out this weekend.

scott, if the manta report is good, don't miss this dive.

[scottsax]

i have a lot of video from that dive i need to edit. i hope to have something for you to check out this weekend.

scott, if the manta report is good, don't miss this dive.

Who did you guys go with? It looks like we're going to try to book it for 4/17. Sockmonkey, I got your ticket if'n you wanna go!

[spatman]

i have a lot of video from that dive i need to edit. i hope to have something for you to check out this weekend.

scott, if the manta report is good, don't miss this dive.

Who did you guys go with? It looks like we're going to try to book it for 4/17. Sockmonkey, I got your ticket if'n you wanna go!

jack's dive locker. eric can hook you up with the deets.

[Sockmonkey]

i have a lot of video from that dive i need to edit. i hope to have something for you to check out this weekend.

scott, if the manta report is good, don't miss this dive.

Who did you guys go with? It looks like we're going to try to book it for 4/17. Sockmonkey, I got your ticket if'n you wanna go!

jack's dive locker. eric can hook you up with the deets.

Yeah we went with Jack's Diving Locker because my wife and I are friends with Keller (and she's on the board of the Manta Pacific Research Foundation). He's not working that night but I would prefer to give Jack's the business. Plus I know a couple of the other guys that work there.

I wrote more about this dive in this thread.

And if there are mantas around that week... I'll totally go with you. Give them a call to make the res soon if you've got a big group. If the group is big enough they'll spin up another boat for you for a private charter I think. If so... ask for Shep as your DM.

Some of my manta video and reports here and here. Stills here.

At some point I'll edit up the video from me and Spatty's manta dive.

-Eric

[Sockmonkey]

Wow it was sorta fun to change the subject line of this thread... I bet that really f's with the hardcore reload button addicts.

I figured I might as well post some of the photos from this dive in lieu of editing video. Pardon my learning how to white balance.

The standard routine on this dive is an afternoon/dusk dive, a long SI with sandwiches and cookies, and then the manta dive itself. I've never gone on the first dive with a guide before. Typically my buddy Eli and I just go off and do our own thing looking for mantas in the blue. The dive spot is a wicked boring reef fo sho. They did offer for us to go swim on our own but I figured what the hell why not check out what Keller has to offer. Zzzzzzzz. There were two other divers in our group.

Keller writing on his stroky slate "Swim horizontally" to one of the other divers (not Spatman surprisingly):


Who knows what's going on here... but the kneeling and the pig pen dust trail are pretty funny:


The garden eels at.. wait for it... Garden Eel Cove:


Someday I'm going to take a video camera... weight it down and leave it in the sand so the eels are right up on the lens. Until then I'll have to watch them from afar. The garden eels are skittish.

Keller sells videos of the dive. He does this thing where he films you as if you're being eaten by the shark. The end result is pretty damn funny:


Spatty being eaten by a hand puppet shark:


I have a soft spot for goatfish for some reason... I don't know why:




Spatman:


Keller set up an urchin eating helmet shell for some fast paced live action feeding. Zzzzzz:


Ring ding:


Spatman smashing the ring. I bet he was one of those kids who popped balloons and made me cry as a little boy:


Spatman says: "I told you it was a flatworm" (divided flatworm to be exact):


What did the man say about swimming horizontally?


I didn't take any stills of the manta dive... they never come out anyways.

The whole set (good and bad) can be found here.

Man...I need to do some work today.

Aloha hard,

-Eric

[spatman]

Spatman smashing the ring. I bet he was one of those kids who popped balloons and made me cry as a little boy.

and as an adult, too.

[Nwbrewer]

Wow it was sorta fun to change the subject line of this thread... I bet that really f's with the hardcore reload button addicts.

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

[spatman]

well, i finally managed to edit the manta footage down to less than 10 minutes. i pretty much just let the camera roll for the whole 50 minute dive, so there was a lot of shaky stuff to remove which left me with about 20 minutes of decent shots. which is pretty surprising since i mostly just held the camera up and pointed it in the general direction i was looking in.

anyway, you can see from all of the lights in the water that we started the dive with maybe 40-50 divers sitting on the bottom, and about the same number of snorkelers above. the effect was pretty surreal and reminded me of Close Encounters at times, with strange aliens floating overhead.

as time went on the crowd thinned, and the last 10 minutes or so it was just down to our small group which consisted of eric, keller, 2 other divers and myself. the mantas were all over us because of eric's HID and keller's video lights, and we could barely look up without seeing several mantas just above our heads. i think i spent more time ducking than pointing the camera up, but you can see the change at about 6:14 in the video. the yellow reg is eric.

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/10664525[/vimeo]

[Mattleycrue76]

Wow that's too cool. If I can ever manage to get my butt over there that dive's on my list for sure.